Free State's Caldwell puts on show at 6A state, defends titles

Firebird breaks own state record in 100 freestyle, delivers big-time anchor leg on winning 400 relay

Free State's Courtney Caldwell dives into the pool to begin the 50-yard freestyle state championship race Saturday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. Caldwell took first in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races and set a new record in the 100.

Free State's Courtney Caldwell smiles at the top of the podium after setting a new record of 50.28 seconds and winning the 100-yard freestyle state championship on Saturday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. Caldwell broke the previous record of 50.43 seconds, which she set last year.

Free State's Courtney Caldwell hugs her teammate after winning the 50-yard free style state championship on Saturday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. Caldwell took first in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races.

She may not show it, but Free State junior Courtney Caldwell still gets excited about winning state swimming titles and setting records in the process.

“It was great, but I had to get out of the pool, cheer on my teammates,” Caldwell said after breaking her own Class 6A state-meet record Saturday in the 100-yard freestyle — an achievement that drew little more than a big smile. “I had more stuff to do.”

Indeed, Caldwell did and the Firebird might have saved her best performance of the day for the end.

With Free State entering the final race of the meet knowing their bid to end Shawnee Mission East’s stranglehold on the team title was over, there was only one thing left to do. Beat the Lancers in the 400 freestyle relay and prevent their celebration from starting a bit early.

That prospect didn’t look altogether great as East steadily built a lead through its first three legs of the relay. When Caldwell entered the water on her anchor leg, she had a deficit of nearly three and a half seconds to make up on Lancer anchor Claire Gilman.

Uhhh, no problem. Caldwell nearly caught Gilman in the first 25 yards and proceeded to bring home the victory with authority. Her sub-50 leg of 49.40 delivered a win of nearly four seconds as Free State finished in 3:34.10.

“When they announced the points, we knew they’d have to be disqualified for us to win,” Caldwell said. “We just told ourselves we were going to get them good, and they won’t even remember they won state. We did that and the younger girls stepped up and did awesome.

“I had faith in myself. It was really good, and I was really strong. I don’t like to lose.”

Caldwell’s only loss of the day came in the meet-opening 200 medley relay as East nipped the Firebirds by .20 seconds in 1:48.33. But as the defending champion in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, Caldwell left no doubt she was unbeatable in each, besting teammate Sydney Sirimongkhon-Dyck by nearly a second to win the 50 in 23.28 and then coming back to break her own state-meet record in the 100.

Caldwell trimmed .15 seconds off the mark she set last year in the 100, clocking a 50.28 to win by nearly three seconds.

As a team, Free State wound up runner-up to East by 26.5 points, scoring 322 to East’s 348.5. Cierra Campbell took second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 freestyle, Eliza Anderson was third in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 200 freestyle, Kat LeFever was fifth in the 100 breaststroke, Kate McCurdy added a seventh in the 200 individual medley, Haley Johnson was sixth in diving, and the 200 freestyle relay took second.

City finalists Laurel Haley of Washburn Rural and Alex Millhuff of Topeka High each had strong showings.

After letting nerves get the better of her in Friday’s prelims, Haley was a lot more calm Saturday, and it showed. The freshman cut nearly a half second off her time in the 50 free, finishing fourth in 24.84, and then came back to drop more than a second in the 100 butterfly, taking sixth in 1:01.04.

“I was a lot less nervous and that helped,” said Haley, who earned second-team All-State honors. “It was shocking that I was able to drop time in the 50, but I was kind of disappointed in the fly.”

Millhuff, meanwhile, came back strong after also battling nerves on Friday. After taking eighth in both her finals races last year, the Trojan senior finished sixth in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.65 and tied for seventh in the 100 free in 54.77.

“I was definitely a lot more excited about my 200 because I was able to go faster than yesterday,” said Millhuff, who also was second-team All-State. “After that race, I thought I’d drop a bit in my 100, but I was close to my time from yesterday, so that’s OK. It was more about enjoying the moment.”

Rural finished 10th, getting good points from its divers. Carah Givens and Ashlan Alexander just missed earning a state medal with Givens scoring 305.95 points to finish ninth, less than six points from eighth, while Anderson was 10th with 302.55 points. Taylor Gnagi was 14th with 280.75 points.

The Junior Blues also got a 14th from Halsey Handley in the 200 freestyle (2:05.11) and 15th from Handley in the 100 freestyle (57.22). The Junior Blues’ 200 medley relay of Ashley Smith, Leah Nelson, Libby Pope and Haley tied for 10th with Lawrence (1:59.71), the 200 free relay of Smith, Nelson, Handley and Anna Fritz was 13th (1:48.73), and the 400 free relay of Pope, Smith, Handley and Haley also was 13th (3:56.63).

Manhattan took ninth as a team, led by a fourth from Amanda Buckwalter in the 500 freestyle. Alana Bucholtz was eighth in the 100 backstroke and teamed with Buckwalter, Mariah Scipio and Kelly Wichmann for a sixth in the 200 medley relay and seventh in the 400 free relay.

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